Good Morning! Trump Media is officially a meme stock - with a market cap of $9.4 billion after yesterday’s close ($DJT only brought in about $3M in revenue during the first 9 months of 2023 and lost around $50M). The S&P 500 is up for the fifth straight month. UBS ended its deal with Apollo, and McKinsey is dialing up the pressure on some consultants and reportedly offering voluntary severance packages. Plus how to become more persuasive at work.

Ethereum price has pulled back recently after hitting 52-week highs. Currently, traders are pricing a 20% chance of an Ethereum ETF being approved by May 31st. Trade your insights on Polymarket today.

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Inside Baseball

For those of you baseball fans, happy Opening Day! In a story that sounds more like a baseball comedy movie than a real-life event, four minor league baseball players Jordan Qsar, Austin Bernard, Grant Witherspoon, and Chase Lambert are in trouble. It’s all over an alleged $190,000 profit made from trading Del Taco shares before the acquisition news went public. 

Qsar caught wind of the deal during a night out in San Diego, courtesy of a Pepperdine University baseball buddy who was working on the acquisition's due diligence for Jack in the Box. Instead of keeping it under his hat, Qsar spilled the beans to Bernard, Witherspoon, and Lambert, who then decided to buy Del Taco stock options. 

In what might be the most brazen display of insider trading, Witherspoon sent a text to Qsar and another teammate touting Del Taco as a great investment because, well, he liked their tacos. It's like saying you're buying shares in Nike because you dig their sneakers - not really the best cover-up for inside information.

The SEC didn’t level any accusations at the Jack in the Box employee or the fast-food chains themselves, but they accused the minor league players were playing fast and loose with the information. It's like they thought they were the Houston Astros of stock traders - ready to strike a trash can (sorry, Astros fans).

When Jack in the Box officially announced its acquisition of Del Taco, the minor league players probably thought they hit the investment out of the park. Instead, the SEC was waiting at home plate, ready to tag them out with a lawsuit seeking and slap them with fines.

Since their alleged insider trading play, the minor leaguers have struggled to make it big on the field. Qsar was last seen in the minor league dugout for the Washington Nationals before getting released. Witherspoon hitched his wagon to the Seattle Mariners minor league team, Bernard is hitting homers in India, and Lambert has a double career as a coach and electrician. 

Takeaway: Another reminder that the SEC is always watching. It’s not worth risking your entire career (& reputation) for a few quick bucks. The minor league players would’ve probably had a better a chance of a home run investing in some Solana memecoins.

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Will Ethereum ETF Be Approved by May 31st?

Ethereum price (~$3,500) has pulled back over the last couple of weeks after hitting 52-week highs.

There is growing interest in Ethereum's upcoming upgrades, which promise to enhance its scalability, security, and sustainability.

The approval of an Ethereum ETF is a hotly debated topic. It represents not just a potential influx of institutional money but also a stamp of legitimacy for Ethereum as a mainstream financial asset. 

Currently, the odds on Polymarket reflect a cautious sentiment, with a 20% chance of approval by May 31.

What's your take? Share your analysis, make predictions, and trade on Polymarket now.

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Top Reads

• Trump Media is officially a meme stock (Axios)

• The S&P 500 is up 5 months straight - and history favors momentum (YF)

• McKinsey piles up or out pressure on some U.S. consultants (BB)

• Robinhood launches its first credit card (YF)

• S&P Global downgrades outlooks on five regional US banks to 'negative' (Reuters)

• UBS ends deal with Apollo struck by Credit Suisse (YF)

• The income a family of 4 needs to live comfortably in 20 major U.S. cities (CNBC)

• Hedgeye names Reddit a short target (YF)

• SEC scores big win in lawsuit against crypto exchange Coinbase (CNBC)

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Markets Rundown

Stocks surged as the S&P 500 closed at a fresh record.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Merck ($MRK) +5% after the FDA approved the company’s lung drug treatment.

• (–) GameStop ($GME) -15% after reporting lower Q4 revenue than last year.

Private Dealmaking

• Amazon invested $2.75 billion into AI startup Anthropic 

• The One Group bought Japanese restaurant chain Benihana for for $365 million

• Celestial AI, an optical solutions developer, raised $175 million 

• Observe, a SaaS observability startup, raised $125 million

• Uzum, a food delivery startup, raised $52 million

• Global Screening Services, a sanctions-screening provider for banks, raised $47 million

For more PE, VC & M&A deals, subscribe to our Buysiders newsletter.

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

Trillion Dollar Coach

The team behind How Google Works returns with management lessons from legendary coach and business executive, Bill Campbell, whose mentoring of some of our most successful modern entrepreneurs has helped create well over a trillion dollars in market value.

Bill Campbell played an instrumental role in the growth of several prominent companies, such as Google, Apple, and Intuit, fostering deep relationships with Silicon Valley visionaries, including Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt. In addition, this business genius mentored dozens of other important leaders on both coasts, from entrepreneurs to venture capitalists to educators to football players, leaving behind a legacy of growing companies, successful people, respect, friendship, and love after his death in 2016.

Leaders at Google for over a decade, Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle experienced firsthand how the man fondly known as Coach Bill built trusting relationships, fostered personal growth—even in those at the pinnacle of their careers—inspired courage, and identified and resolved simmering tensions that inevitably arise in fast-moving environments. To honor their mentor and inspire and teach future generations, they have codified his wisdom in this essential guide.

"Always build communities. Build communities inside and outside of work. A place is much stronger when people are connected."

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Cocoa Prices Moon

Dollars per metric ton

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Add AI to Your Portfolio

Marketing is an art, not a science — or, at least, it was. 

Dubbed “essential AI” for brands, RAD AI decodes the language of the internet into actionable, highly valuable insights. These findings can be used to deliver outsized ROI, and sometimes, help brands avoid disaster.  

RAD AI is disrupting the $633B marketing technology industry and its potential is evident by the numbers…

• $27M raised from 6,500+ investors, including VCs, and execs at Google, Amazon and Meta, and is also backed by the Adobe Fund for Design.

• ~3x revenue growth from 2022 to 2023 — while landing major clients, including Hasbro, Skechers, Sweetgreen and more.

Invest now for 15% in bonus shares.

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Insights

1. The first step towards building a good life is understanding that you have options when designing your own version.

2. Emotional outbursts and anger rob us of the present. For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

3. Knowledge is reality — to improve your reality, upgrade your knowledge.

4. Think about it. There’s always a way out — your job is to balance emotion, reason and logic.

5. By questioning your inherited beliefs, you will understand what you believe and ultimately get to know yourself better.

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Short Squeez Picks

• How fear of regret influences our decisions

• 2 ways to heal your inner teenager

• 5 steps to regain control of your life

• 4 steps to break the cycle of unhappiness

• How to become more persuasive at work

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Memes of the Day